Man Who Died In Trump Tower Fire Did Not Need to Die

Todd Brassner, who died in a fire at Trump Tower on Saturday, didn’t need to die, and two things could have prevented it. 

One would have been a sprinkler system but Trump was too cheap to put one in when he built the building. 

The other thing that would have saved Brassner’s life is if he would have found a buyer for his Trump Tower unit.  He had been trying to move since the election of President Donald Trump in 2016.  But nobody would buy his apartment.

“It haunts me,” said Stephen Dwire, 67, a musician and music producer who had been friends with Brassner since they were 14-year-olds. “He said, ‘This is getting untenable,’” Dwire said. “It was like living in an armed camp. But when people heard it was a Trump building, he couldn’t give it away.”

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He said that Trump’s election brought increased security and activity to the building and he wanted to get out but he couldn’t find a buyer for the 50th floor apartment which had estimated value of $2.5 million before Trump became president.  

Firefighters have not publicized the cause of Saturday’s fire which injured four New York City firefighters.

Trump sent out a tweet on Saturday saying the fire had been put out.  He also bragged about Trump Tower saying it is a “well built building.”

Fire at Trump Tower is out. Very confined (well built building). Firemen (and women) did a great job. THANK YOU!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 7, 2018

Trump Tower was built in 1983 and did not have sprinklers, which were not required by building codes at the time.  Many people wanted to make a law requiring older apartment buildings to add  sprinklers but Trump was among the developers who spoke out against requiring sprinkler systems as unnecessary and expensive.

A New York City agency did say on Sunday that Trump Tower has working smoke detectors.  They said that the NYFD got notified of the fire by the hard-wired fire detectors in the building’s heating and ventilation system. 

Brassner, who records show bought his unit in 1996, was an art collector who was friends with Andy Warhol and had one of his signed paintings.  He reportedly had millions of dollars of art and collectibles in his apartment, but the fire department would not say the extent to which they were damaged in the fire.

Leo Vidal

I am a lifelong Democrat with a passion for social justice and progressive issues. I have degrees in writing, economics and law from the University of Iowa.